Piercing and wearing jewelry on vulva tissues is one way some women alter the appearance of their genitals. Prior to the 1990s, in the Western world, body piercing was associated with exotic, faraway peoples seen in National Geographic. Now some men and women in the West have extended this form of "body art" to their genitals. The most common sites for female genital piercings are the clitoral hood and the labia minora or majora. Rings and/or barbells are placed through the piercings.
It is unknown to what extent vulva jewelry genuinely improves erotic stimulation. Risks from the piercing procedure include contracting HIV, hepatitis B, and bacterial infections. After the piercing, local and systemic infections, abscess formation, allergic reactions, torn flesh, and problematic scarring can result. The rings and barbells can also damage the genital tissue of the sexual partner (Kreahling, 2005; Meltzer, 2005).
In recent years some women have had cosmetic surgery to alter the size or shape of their labia minora (Deans et al., 2011). Women typically ask surgeons who do this procedure, called labiaplasty, to make their labia smaller or more symmetrical. Increased exposure to Internet, magazine, and film pornography in which the inner labia are frequently small or nonexistent may contribute to women’s belief that their labia should look different than they do naturally (Drysdale, 2010; W Robertson, 2011). Many porn magazines airbrush or digitally remove the inner labia. This "digital labiaplasty" results in a vulva whose appearance, especially when pubic hair is removed, is more similar to that of prepubescent girls than to sexually mature females (Salber, 2010).
The motivation for undergoing the procedure comes more often from the women themselves than from their male partners. A 2008 survey of 24,000 men and women in Germany found that women contemplated labiaplasty in order to make their vulvas look like those of porn stars. Women were more concerned about the appearance of their vulvas than their male partners were (Drey et al., 2009). However, some women sought labiaplasty because of disparaging comments by sexual partners (Deans et al., 2011). Men who persuade their partners to have labiaplasty typically want their partners’ labia to conform to the vulva appearance that appeals to them most when watching pornography (Douglas et al., 2005).
The idea that there is one aesthetic ideal for the vulva can contribute to a woman’s negative feelings about her vulva, which can impact her sexuality.
One research study found that the more women were dissatisfied with the appearance of their genitals, the more genital self-consciousness and the less sexual satisfaction they experienced during sexual intimacy (Schick et al.,
2010). Another study found benefits of positive genital self-image: Women
Female Sexual Anatomy and Physiology
reproduction or waste elimination, the only purpose of the clitoris is sexual pleasure and arousal.
A good deal of controversy has surrounded the role of the clitoris in sexual arousal and orgasm. Despite long-existing scientific knowledge about the highly concentrated nerve endings in the clitoris, the erroneous belief has persisted that vaginal rather than clitoral stimulation is—or should be—exclusively responsible for female sexual arousal and orgasm. However, the clitoris is far more sensitive to touch than the vagina, and most women are more likely to experience orgasm not only from self-stimulation but also from partner manual and oral stimulation of the clitoris than from vaginal penetration (Brewer & 2011). ЩCritical Thinking Question
The interior of the vagina does contain nerve endings, but not the type that respond
What should parents tell their daughters
to light touch (Pauls et al., 2006). (This is why women do not feel tampons or dia-
about their clitorises?
phragms when they are correctly in place.) Nevertheless, many women find internal pressure and stretching sensations inside the vagina during manual stimulation or intercourse highly pleasurable. Some women experience more intense arousal from vaginal stimulation than from clitoral stimulation, especially after they are aroused and the vaginal tissues are fully engorged. Research using brain-imaging technology has found that women (with and without spinal cord injury) can experience orgasm using cervical self-stimulation (Whipple & Komisaruk, 2006). As more and more scientific research is done, a wider range of individual variation becomes apparent (Ellison, 2000).
In some parts of the world, the sexual role of the clitoris is so troubling that the structure is removed during female genital cutting, as described in the following Sexuality and Diversity discussion.